EBay to launch mobile ad network as in-app opportunities grow
EBay, already a leader in embracing mobile to engage consumers, wants to translate that success into a new revenue opportunity by giving other brands the chance to leverage its first-party data for targeted in-app advertising opportunities.
The in-application advertising market continues to grow in a reflection of how much time consumers are spending in apps, with eBay?s plans for an ad network following Amazon?s expansion of its own in-app ad network several months ago in response to the strong results the ecommerce giant has been experiencing. In general, marketers have not been spending on in-app advertising at levels appropriate to the amount of time that consumers are spending in apps but, this is starting to change and eBay wants to insure it is in on the ground floor of this burgeoning opportunity.
"Since eBay users have a single, universal login - regardless of the device they are using - we are able to target and track across all devices using our first-party data," eBay wrote on its site about the new ad network. "This data is incredibly powerful and is only accessible to brands advertising with eBay. Our ability to map real people throughout their entire shopping journey is invaluable.
Engaged mobile users
EBay underscores how engaged its mobile users are in a new Web page announcing the in-app advertising opportunities. The company contends that eBay mobile users spend three-times the amount of time on eBay than its nearest competitor.
The in-app ad network will focus on native ads, meaning brand messages will appear in-stream with eBay content to provide a less-disruptive experience than traditional banner or interstitial ads.
EBay also boasts the size of its mobile business, including that it generated $20 billion in mobile commerce in 2013 and 260 million app downloads worldwide.
The company also says it will harness user data to provide insights into user interests and intent based shopping and purchasing behavior to help advertisers reach the right audience.
One of the benefits eBay is promising marketers compared to other platforms is the ability to target and track ads across all devices. EBay is able to do this since its users have a single, universal login across devices.
In-app ad spend
In a report from earlier this year, Maz found that consumers spend 40 percent more time reading content in apps than on Web sites, but marketers are still hesitant to ramp up in-app ad spend (see story).
However, the spend on in-app advertising is expected to grow to almost $17 billion by 2018, according to a report from Juniper.
There are signs that marketers are beginning to grasp the potential for in-app advertising.
For example, Coca-Cola, Universal Pictures, Ford and McDonald?s all recently signed onto leverage new video ads sponsoring free streaming in the Spotify mobile app (see story).
A growing market
In July, Amazon expanded its mobile ad network with supports for Apple apps for the first time. Previously, the network only supported in-app ads for Android apps.
The Amazon expansion also include bringing ad serving to new geographic markets, including Spain and Italy.
"As one of the only ad-targeting platforms to naturally possess first-party data, we have enormous insight into user interests and intent based on actual shopping and purchase behavior," per the eBay site. "In fact, eBay tracks over 290 million hours of shopping activity each month.4 We harness the power of this data to help our advertising partners reach their ideal audience anytime, anywhere and on any device."
Final Take
Chantal Tode is senior editor on Mobile Marketer, New York
Chantal Tode is senior editor on Mobile Marketer, New York